EDITORIAL
The victims

Published: April 29, 2004 8:00PM

Whatever the fate of criminals may be, their victims too often are locked away for life in emotional prisons impossible for the rest of us to comprehend.
Norman Stout of New Concord knows that cruel fact all too well.
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati this week set aside the conviction of Guernsey Countys only death row inmate and said he is entitled to a new trial in the 1984 murder of a New Concord woman.
That woman was Norman Stouts wife of 30 years, Mary Jane.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that John David Stumpfs guilty plea to aggravated murder in the case was unconstitutional, reversing a 2001 lower court ruling. The State of Ohio has the option to retry Stumpf within 90 days.
For 20 years, Mr. Stout now in his 70s has hoped not for vengence, but for justice.
Who could blame him?
No murder is pretty, but this crime was particularly gruesome. On the night of May 14, 1984, the Stout home near New Concord was invaded by men intent on robbery. In the end, Mr. Stout took two slugs from a .25-caliber automatic, one in the top of his head, the other near the corner of his right eye. He watched his wife shot to death.
Convicted were Norman Leroy Edmunds, who was paroled to Texas in 1994 and subsequently released, and Clyde Daniel Wesley, who is doing life with the possibility of parole in 2019.
Stumpfs case has tied up the Ohio legal system for years, with execution dates scheduled then re-scheduled.
All of the delays and legal proceedings put the Stout family in eternal disarray.
No matter what happens to Stumpf, a sad thing about this case is that the spiritual death sentence the surviving victims got was carried out.